McMichael Samantha L, Kwan Virginia S Y
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Apr 5;15(4):471. doi: 10.3390/bs15040471.
In industrialized societies, emerging adulthood is a unique developmental stage between adolescence and adulthood (i.e., 18 to 29 years old), where individuals continuously encounter decisions that have important consequences that unfold over time (i.e., intertemporal decisions). The present review paper had three aims. The first aim was to provide a brief overview of emerging adulthood as a developmental stage and present a rationale for the importance of understanding the relationship between temporal self-perceptions and longitudinal outcomes in emerging adults. The second aim was to review evidence for a proposed model demonstrating the connection between three domains of temporal self-perceptions-future self-perceptions, longitudinal changes in future self-perceptions, and continuity between temporal selves (i.e., past-to-future)-, self-regulatory processes, and positive downstream consequences (e.g., psychological well-being and academic success) in emerging adults. Specifically, this targeted review sought to highlight research exploring the longitudinal processes in these relationships (e.g., changes in temporal self-perceptions over time and the relationship between temporal self-perceptions and longitudinal outcomes) and testing how these relationships function amidst a large-scale challenge (i.e., the COVID-19 pandemic). Given the heterogeneity of emerging adults as a demographic group, the third aim was to review research exploring demographic factors (e.g., gender and socioeconomic status) as a potential moderator of these relationships. The review provided support for the proposed model, highlighting the importance of perceptions of temporal selves in predicting a range of positive long-term outcomes, including self-regulatory processes, psychological well-being, and achievement. Additionally, the review demonstrated preliminary support for the significance of crucial demographic factors (e.g., gender and socioeconomic status) in understanding the nature of these relationships in emerging adults. Finally, the review suggests future directions to extend this growing literature and broaden the understanding of these relationships.
在工业化社会中，新兴成年期是介于青春期和成年期之间的一个独特发展阶段（即18至29岁），在此阶段，个体不断面临一些随着时间推移会产生重要影响的决策（即跨期决策）。本综述文章有三个目标。第一个目标是简要概述新兴成年期这一发展阶段，并阐述理解新兴成年人的时间自我认知与纵向结果之间关系的重要性的基本原理。第二个目标是回顾一个提出的模型的相关证据，该模型展示了时间自我认知的三个领域——未来自我认知、未来自我认知的纵向变化以及不同时间自我之间的连续性（即从过去到未来）——、自我调节过程以及新兴成年人的积极下游结果（如心理健康和学业成功）之间的联系。具体而言，这次有针对性的综述旨在突出探索这些关系中的纵向过程（如时间自我认知随时间的变化以及时间自我认知与纵向结果之间的关系）并测试这些关系在大规模挑战（即新冠疫情）中如何发挥作用的研究。鉴于新兴成年人作为一个人口群体具有异质性，第三个目标是回顾探索人口统计学因素（如性别和社会经济地位）作为这些关系潜在调节因素的研究。该综述为提出的模型提供了支持，强调了时间自我认知在预测一系列积极长期结果（包括自我调节过程、心理健康和成就）方面的重要性。此外，该综述表明关键人口统计学因素（如性别和社会经济地位）在理解新兴成年人这些关系的本质方面具有初步的重要性。最后，该综述提出了未来的研究方向，以扩展这一不断增长的文献并拓宽对这些关系的理解。
